Sweet Corruption
by AlexRose312
Summary: For Hermione Granger, there has always been a clear line between good and evil. When she is captured by Death Eaters and finds comfort in an unlikely place - Lucius Malfoy, suddenly the line isn't so clear any more.
1. Diagon Alley

_**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everything Harry Potter. Her imagination far exceeds my own.**_

_**This is my first attempt at a fanfiction and I've had this idea in my head for ages, so hope you guys like it!! Reviews would be awesome, even criticism is gladly accepted!**_

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Diagon Alley

A nineteen-year-old Hermione Granger was walking down Diagon Alley with a stride, her brown ringlets bouncing around her head. She was in training to be an Auror, having passed all her NEWTs with flying colours two years ago. Life was good. She had been Head Girl in her final year at Hogwarts, along with Neville as Head Boy, much to everyone's surprise. She fondly remembered how shocked Neville had been once he'd been told - he'd looked like he'd been petrified, how still and wide-eyed he'd stood. Of course, Hermione had always known she'd be Head Girl, with her knowledge and skills.

The main reason she was in Diagon Alley was the need of a new wand - her old one had been broken a few days ago when Crookshanks had sat on it, and she was in need of a new one. She missed her old wand, but felt confident that her new one would be just as good. She badly to feel the smooth wood of a wand under her fingers, and the power that came with it. But she also hadn't been to Diagon Alley for ages, and felt like a mooch around. Being here again reminded her of the first time she set foot into the wizard world, how excited she'd been. She decided she would go to Gringotts and of course she'd go to Flourish and Blotts.

Ten minutes later, she happily emerged from Ollivander's with a shiny new wand in her hand, levitating small items around her just because she could, and was ecstatic to be holding a wand again. It might only have been three days since the loss of her old one, but three days without magic was a lot for a skilled and enthusiastic witch, even a muggle-born who knew how to manage without magic.

She was in such a good mood she felt like treating herself to some new robes. Hermione spent a good half hour browsing amongst the various cloaks, hats and robes, before choosing some nice but not too expensive robes of deep green. Green had always been her favourite colour, despite the fact that she had been in Gryffindor and hated Slytherins (though she never did nearly as much as Harry and Ron had - she had ever had a miniature crush on Draco Malfoy at one point), although gold and red were her second – favourites. After a quick trip to Gringotts and a look in the bookstore (easily her most – visited shop), she decided to have a drink in the Leaky Cauldron and see if anyone she knew was there, before apparating home straight away.

As Hermione walked past Knockturn Alley, she hesitated. Why not? She had always been curious about the Dark Arts, she thirsted for knowledge about absolutely everything magical, dark or not, and surely it was best to know your enemy. She lingered on the edge of the alleyway, unsure whether it was safe. You could never be too careful these days, and it was rare that good people ventured down Knockturn Alley, for it was filled with Dark Magic. Mostly only Death Eaters went there. Still, she reasoned to herself, the Death Eaters are all in hiding these days, and she doubted Mr Borgin or any of the other shop owners would feel inclined to hurt her. She'd just have a quick look at what was down there before heading off to the Leaky Cauldron.

Feeling slightly excited (this would only be her first trip down here since following Draco Malfoy in sixth year), and filled with a mix of anticipation, apprehension and curiosity, Hermione Granger stepped down into Knockturn Alley.

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_**AN: Yeah, kind of a short first chapter, but next chapter will hopefully be longer.**_

_**Review please!! xx**_


	2. Knockturn Alley

_**Well, here's chapter 2! Hope you all enjoy, and a huge thanks to my first ever reviewer, TonyAnnaAndre :D. Also to Kitkat Kezia, without whom I wouldn't even know existed. :)**_

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Knockturn Alley

As Hermione hesitantly walked down the narrow Knockturn Alley, you could feel the Dark Magic in the air, and it almost felt like it was calling to her, pulling her in. Hermione was slightly scared by the fact that she was so attracted by the Darkness. It felt so wrong, with her being in training to become an Auror, fighting for everything good, yet she couldn't deny the natural pull she felt towards this place and its Darkness. She arrived at the first shop in the alley - Borgin And Burkes. After taking a quick look around, she pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders, and went inside.

She was fascinated. She had been here before, but didn't have a chance to actually look around. There was a jar full of shrunken heads, a small compact mirror with intricate designs around the outside of the glass. When Hermione looked into it, she saw a mist not unlike the mist in Alastor Moody's foe-glass, but this mist was pitch black. She noticed the Vanishing Cabinet the Death Eaters had entered Hogwarts through in her sixth year was still here. Then a beautiful ring caught her eye with a huge diamond set into the middle. Hermione couldn't help but move towards it and gaze at it in wonder. The diamond was so beautiful, she couldn't take her eyes off it. It was dazzling; goodness knows how much it would cost. She reached out a hand to try it on...

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you, missy dear," warned an sleek, oily voice that sounded like it wasn't used much, and kissed a lot of ass when it was. Hermione, startled, whipped around to see Mr Borgin standing behind his counter. She hadn't noticed him, and he had been watching her examine the items.

"Why not?" she asked curiously. It was probably cursed, she knew that much, but she hadn't thought about that at the time.

"Whoever tries it on dies in a week," he simply said with a grin. "It has been used by men many times over to murder their wives, for only women are affected by its powers."

"That's terrible!" exclaimed Hermione, but on the inside she admired it. "It really is rather clever and definitely an efficient method of killing," she thought.

"Would you young missy be interested in any artefacts then? Poisons perhaps? If it's a way to kill someone you came in here for, I have planty of items that will effectively do the job, and all very reasonably priced..."

"Oh, no thank you, I was just looking for today. I'd better be going now." She didn't like Borgin, and was beginning to get slightly creeped out.

"Well, if you ever have need of anything here, don't hesitate to come."

Hermione hurried out, not wanting to spend much more time in there. Her arms were beginning to get tired from carrying her bag of gold, books and new robes. She decided to send it all back to her house with a quick flick of her new wand. No point in tiring myself out, she reasoned, and it wasn't like she would need the gold. She obviously wasn't going to actually buy anything from any store in Knockturn Alley.

She heard a rustle behind her and jumped, pointing her wand at the shadowed area where it had come from. There was that rustle again, when a small mouse came rushing out from its bed of leaves. Hermione sighed in relief. "Just a mouse," she said to herself, "I must be getting paranoid." She turned around and carried on walking, wondering what other kind of shops were down here. She passed a store with the windows boarded up, and one with the sign 'ABERNOMO'S ALMHALLS' dangling from its roof. From what she could see through the windows, it was filled with an assortment of watches, muggle items floating around by themselves that were obviously jinxed, animals missing limbs and wands so crooked they were almost all zigzagged. "What the hell are almhalls?" Hermione wondered out loud.

There was another rustle behind her, but this time she didn't bother herself to turn around, for it was obviously just another mouse. Then footsteps. Hermione drew her wand and looked around warily, still not overly frightened. Then a dark hooded figure emerged from the shadows, wearing a mask that could only be worn by a Death Eater. A non-verbal spell would give her an advantage, she thought. There was only one opponent, and she knew a lot of spells. _Petrificus tot- _she started to think but was cut short by a voice from behind her.

"Crucio!"

There was more than one Death Eater! She ducked just early enough, she felt the curse fly over her head. _Levicorpus! _She thought in urgency, but it was easily deflected.

"Crucio!"

"Sectumsempra!"

_"AVADA KEDAVRA!"_

Three curses were shot at her head at once from different sides and she ducked again, so the spells all hit each other. She was outnumbered, as more Death Eaters emerged from the shadows she realized they must have a headquarters somewhere near here, or maybe they were all just out for a stroll together. Either way, she would surely die or be tortured into insanity.

"PROTEGO!" she screamed, producing the most powerful shield she could muster.

"Avada Ke-" one of them started to say, but was cut off by the voice of another that sounded vaguely familiar to Hermione.

"Stop - this is the Granger girl," said the smooth and silky voice. "She is a friend of Harry Potters, let us take her to the Dark Lord and see what he would have us do with her."

"Stupefy!" Hermione cried, her last feeble attempt at escape easily deflected. She was backed into a corner then suddenly found herself with something in her mouth blocking her tongue - a gagging spell, she realized. Now even if there were people around, no - one could hear her scream. Giving up, she wondered how much pain she would go through before she died, and then the Death Eaters closed in and everything went black.

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**_AN: Well, what did you guys think?? Review review review please!!_**

**_xx_**


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